1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to telecommunications and, more specifically, to a providing promotions to users on a phone.
2. Description of the Background Art
Providing users with promotions when they search the Internet is well in known in the art. Many search engines will display ads to users based on the search terms they enter. The key to effective advertising is to target promotions to the right users. Phone numbers dialed by phone users can be an effective way to target promotions. This is largely an untapped area for targeting promotions to users, although it is known in the art to play an ad to a customer once they call into an Interactive Voice Response System (IVR). For instance, if a user calls the 1-800 number of an airline, they may first hear a promotion related to the airline before being routed to the applicable agent or point in the IVR system. Several companies, such as Bevocal, Inc. and Tellme, Inc., provide applications for IVR systems that can play a promotion to a user at the start of a call.
One deficiency with the foregoing method is that a promotion is not played to a user until a voice call is actually placed to an IVR destination. Consequently, the promotions that are played are usually promotions associated or approved by the party that owns the phone number associated with the IVR system (e.g., the airline that owns the 1-800 number dialed by the user). In such case, it is not possible for a competitor to pay for a promotion to be played when a user dials a phone number for a competing business. Therefore, there is a desire for a decentralized, more flexible way to play promotions to users via the phone.